In their opening game of the weekend Classic tournament, the Lady Knights fell to the Highland Community College Lady Scotties in four tough sets.

The scores were 25-19, 23-25, 26-28, 22-25. It was the first loss of the season for North Platte.

In the opening set, the Lady Knights stormed to a 25-19 victory, but the Lady Scotties responded by winning a hard fought second set 23-25. The third set was another hard fought battle the the Lady Scotties again pulled out, 26-28. The Lady Scotties closed out the Lady Knights in the fourth set 22-25.

“We started out good,” said head coach Sally Thalken “but when Highland (Community College) amped things up we got flat. We didn’t communicate and began to question ourselves. We gave up too many leads and just didn’t respond when the door was open for us."

Samantha Kennedy led the Lady Knights with 18 kills and three blocks. Sabrina Hallahan was also in double figure kills with 12 kills. Joli Hopping had 23 assists and two ace serves to lead the Lady Knights. Laura Beckman had 20 assists. Shannon Liewer led the way with 28 digs.

Thalken predicts that Saturday will be another tough day. "Colby (Community College) is playing well and Trinidad State (Junior College) is a good team too,” she said.

The Lady Knights face Colby at 10 a.m. Saturday. The tournament ends for the Lady Knights when they take on Trinidad State Community College, beginning at noon.